You Have No Idea
by aquaphir
Summary: "Is she always this...cool?" Kise asked, thoroughly bewildered. Kuroko stopped in his tracks and fell into deep thought. Just as Kise was about to be concerned of his friends' prolonged silence, Kuroko gave him an uncharacteristically pained expression and said, "You have no idea."
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 _Tap, tap, tap,…pause…tap, tap…_

Black and yellow headphones on her dark hair and a satisfied, almost serene expression on her face, a girl hummed quietly, tapping her fingers absentmindedly to the beat. Nothing about the girl seemed to be outstanding, but somehow, she seemed different from the body of students around her.

She spotted enthusiastic upperclassmen promoting their clubs, almost overbearingly, to the slightly more youthful faces of the new first years. The girl actually spotted one person who was passing out fliers without saying a word.

"A shy upperclassman? How cute…" she thought, amused.

Just ahead of her, a group of baseball players stood awkwardly to the side. The person who seemed to be the captain gulped before his eyes hardened. As the captain, he had the weight of his whole team on his shoulders. They had barely the amount of members to play in official games. Recruiting incoming freshmen was a must, no, it was imperative! His shyness could not obstruct his team any longer.

The poor guy clenched his eyes and fists and yelled, "BASEBALL CLUB IS IN NEED OF PLAY-"

The captain's courageous burst, in fact, only served to scare the timid-looking freshman girls that he had failed to notice.

One girl, already nervous about starting her high school years, did not notice the can in front of her and stepped on it. As the girl's body started to fall forward, she could not help but squeeze her eyes shut and wait for those terrible few seconds pass with terror. She would fall forward on her face, make herself an utter embarrassment in front of everyone, become an outcast, not go back to high school, fail in finding a job, fail in lif-

A slender arm swiftly, but securely, grabbed the poor girl's waist and helped her stand.

"Oops, careful there. It would be a shame to hurt your pretty face, huh?" teary eyes met a suave grin.

Time seemed to slow once again as her savior's eyes shifted to a crescent shape. Her long, lush eyelashes barely hid her gentle, straightforward gaze.

The girl's legs wobbled again, now for a totally different reason. Her waist where the girl had held her seemed strangely warm, almost as warm as hers and the captain's face. More than two heartbeats were quickened from the scene as the incredibly cool girl left with a small wave.

The girl had unknowingly saved two people from having an embarrattack, also known as a heart attack from embarrassment.

"I- I want to be held," the captain swooned, shocking his teammates.

 **XXX**

In the meantime, Koganei had brought a new student to the basketball club table. The fact that he was the one being brought did not fail to be noticed by Riko and Hyuuga. But really, the student's height and aura, even without his informal speech and sharp eyebrows, was pretty intimidating. Not that the coach and captain were afraid of him, but they chose to stay silent for the moment. They still wanted new members after all.

Really scary people pocketed these "things" somewhere in their brains and retaliated in a more private environment.

"Is this the basketball club?" the new student's gruff voice suited his appearance perfectly.

"…Yeah," Riko replied a beat later, surprised by his intense aura.

"I want to join the basketball club."

"What? Oh, welcome! I'm sure you know, but our school only opened last year. Our seniors are only second years, so I'm sure someone of your build would probably quickly…"

"I don't care. I'm going to leave after writing my name." The new student, whose name was now revealed, rudely interrupted Riko. The future Riko and Hyuuga would be slightly harder on his stretches, but the future Kagami would not even realize what he had done to receive such treatment because well, he was an idiot.

"Huh? You don't have a reason for joining?" Riko still asked.

"I don't have one. Basketball's the same, no matter where you go in Japan," Kagami said as he rose from his seat, crinkling the paper cup he had been given and throwing it over his shoulders into the bin—without looking. Really, the dramatic music on the background and his red hair and aura guaranteed that the paper cup would make its destination.

Well, that would have been the case if a hand had not shot out of nowhere to grab the paper cup right before its goal. Six pairs of eyes turned to gaze at the hand's owner, who then, proceeded to lightly "dunk" the cup into bin with one hand. It landed in a surprisingly loud thunk. The girl's movements seemed so ridiculously smooth and graceful that this whole process seemed to be in slow motion.

Six pairs of eyes were focused on her with mouths agape. All of them had varying amounts of comical expressions on their faces, Mitobe's being the least and Koganei the most.

Kagami was also surprised and pissed as the seconds passed by, but the proud tiger in him did not want to let the others to notice that he had snuck a glance back to make sure he made the goal. Besides her display had just had totally removed his from the club members' minds, so he just forced himself to keep walking away from the scene—not without multiple ticks on his forehead.

 _Who the hell was that girl?_ Kagami stomped away, still bewildered but too proud to take another glance.

It turned out to be that he was not the one with the most dramatic appearance music.

"I'm Rina, in case you wanted to know," the girl, whose name was now revealed, smiled. Her voice was cheerful and light, but also smooth. It reminded the others of a princely anime character but well… a girl.

Walking up to the table, she glanced down to see a lone form.

"Seems like Tetsuya has already been here," she remarked softly before looking at the all of those present around the table, one by one. "Sorry about that, I've been told that I'm unnecessarily showy," to which all of them agreed internally, "but I hope we can become good friends." Adding her basketball application form to the pile in from of Riko, Rina gave the others a small nod and smile before leaving in long, confident strides.

"Name: Rina. Reason for applying: I made a promise… It seems like this year's applicants are very…special," said Hyuuga the understatement of the year, "Wait, when did she even write on the form?!"

"You know… she was kind of cool though," remarked Koganei in a subdued manner while Mitobe nodded silently beside him.

"But wait… did someone named Tetsuya come by?" said Riko.

 **XXX**

The sakura blossoms carried by the light spring breeze landed slowly and softly at her feet. She felt oddly ticklish and she wanted to burst out giggling. But when that perfect round sakura petal left her, carried by another breeze, Rina felt her heart clenching

Slowly,

Too gently to be painful but too soothing to be suffocating.

She was so close to him.

* * *

 **As some of you may know, all of my stories are in hiatus. I impulsively start to write and lose motivation somewhere along the way. I don't know what'll happen to this one but let me know how you feel about it and we'll see what happens!**

 **Thanks for reading, really.**

 **With love,**

 **Aquaphir**


	2. Chapter 2

**I made some changes to the first chapter in case you wanted to read that first!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

"I'm Rina, in case you wanted to know," Riko thought back, idly sitting on her desk and chewing on the straw in her milk carton.

As suddenly as she had appeared, Rina left abruptly as well. In that short time, she had left a deep impression in all of those present around the table. Riko scrunched her eyebrows slightly, but why was she so bothered about that weird girl?

The girl was slightly tall for the average Japanese girl, but she was not tall enough to make her stand out. _Was it her small breasts?_ _She must be an A…_ _but that's not too bad either_ , Riko thought smugly, thinking of her own "full" B's. _Was she pretty?_ Her round eyes, small mouth, and pale skin gave Rina a more "cute" image than a "pretty" or "gorgeous" image. So basically, her appearance was not the issue.

A firm gaze that normal freshmen do not have, shoulders set in a confident and easygoing manner, the smooth and flowing way she spoke… Riko, no, anyone would think that the Rina girl was trying to act tough, but there was no mistake in her manner that her actions at that moment were sincere.

Most importantly, Rina had applied to the basketball club. Honestly, Riko was not sure what she wanted to accomplish in the club and was about to discard her form, but she had a feeling that the "weird" ones would be the ones to change Seirin basketball club's destiny dramatically for the better or worse.

And as the coach, it was her job to make it for the better. But first, she had to meet with he—

"I'd like the official club registration club form," Kuroko suddenly appeared as the coach beautifully spat out the milk she was drinking in surprise.

 **XXX**

Today was the day the basketball club would meet up and introduce their new members to the club. Everyone who had applied were invited, well, everybody except for her. Rina, who could not have known about the decision Riko would have made regarding her the next day, leaned on the window sill, head pressed into her crossed arms, depressed.

A classmate approached her and asked, "Umm… Rina-san? Are you alright?"

Rina turned to the side to face the girl with her head still resting on her arms. Her lips slowly slid into a smile and her eyes were half-lidded. "I'm not alright."

"Oh, umm… Is there anything I can do for you?"

"If you comfort me, I will be," said Rina with the expression of a lazy cat.

Too bad she could not get the "comfort" she wanted because her classmate had turned around and ran away, with blood trickling down from her nose.

"Hmm… I wonder if she's alright?" thought Rina, completely clueless to what she had done and why she was not invited to the basketball club.

 **XXX**

Although nobody could tell, Kuroko was in a good mood. The first years had won the match against the upperclassmen and most of all, playing basketball with the team was fun.

"Team"—the word gave his stomach a light and fluttery feeling, a happy feeling, but at the same time gave his heart a tight clench, a sad and nostalgic feeling. But those lonely feelings soon disappeared, however, when he remembered the promise he made to Kagami.

"I am a shadow. But the stronger the light, the darker the shadow, and the more it accentuates the light. I will be the shadow to your light and make you the best player in Japan," Kuroko had said, imitating the same sincere and straightforward manner of his most precious person.

"Look who's talking. Do whatever you want," returned Kagami, smirking.

 **XXX**

"Hello, I'm Aida Riko and I'm the basketball coach," Riko introduced herself simply, expecting the freshman in front of her to be surprised. But to her own surprise, Rina merely smiled.

"And I am Rina. Nice to meet you, coach."

"Actually, I was in a dilemma about you."

"Yes?"

"After that stunt you pulled on the first day of school, I didn't want to invite you to the team." A big red imaginary arrow shot through Rina. "The only reason why I met up with you now is because I want to know exactly why you want to join the team."

Rina seemed to take a moment to process her thoughts. She also seemed to be…distraught.

"Oh no, not again! My best friend always warned me to tone down whatever I wanted to say or do," Rina began to ramble, both hands cupping her face in a distressed manner while Riko sweatdropped. "Maybe I've been away from him far too long so I must've resorted to my old habits and-"

 _Could it be…that she's an idiot?_ Riko guessed correctly.

Then suddenly, Rina gently grabbed Riko's hands with both of hers and squeezed it softly. The 165 cm tall girl stooped slightly to look directly at the 158 cm tall girl.

"Coach, will you hear me out?" the coach inside of her told her to be stern, but the high school girl in her loved all cute things. Besides, she doubted anyone could say no to such an earnest gaze.

Clearing her throat more for the sake of clearing her mind, Riko waited patiently.

"You see, I am here to keep two promises."

"You mentioned your promises on the form but…"

"Yes," Rina paused, "I made promises with two of my precious people—Kuroko Tetsuya and Kiyoshi Teppei."

 **XXX**

The courageous prince calmly drew his sword, imbued with water magic by the continent's strongest wizard, in front of the mighty fire dragon.

Angrily, the dragon roared and the battle started. It was long and bitter, but between the savage fire dragon and the prince who had someone precious to protect, the winner was decided. The battered prince slowly walked towards to the beautiful princess under a sleeping spell. He gave her a meaningful kiss on her lips and carried the princess gently towards their home as she awoke from her deep slumber.

Together, they had a happily ever after.

"The End," said the little blue haired boy.

His kindergarten teacher had forgotten him once more, so he had randomly grabbed a book lying on the floor and left his classroom undetected. The small child then expertly proceeded to climb the sturdy sakura tree next to the school.

Kuroko liked the story. The prince was cool, with his sparkling blonde hair and silver sword.

 _But,_ he pondered, _a prince like that doesn't exist anywhere._ After all, the prince was very strong and brave, and most importantly, there was no dragon to defeat.

Suddenly, something close to a dragon, an angry mother crow that was scared by the sudden voice under her nest, squawked at the poor boy, startling him off the branch. Kuroko clenched his eyes, hugging the book tightly.

He did not meet the hard ground, but rather something warm and a little soft.

"Oww…" startled once more, the boy looked down to see a dark haired girl.

"I-I'm so sowwy!" his mother had told him that boys should never hurt girls, and he was a boy and she was a girl. His round blue eyes started to water.

"Are you okay?"

"Wha-What? But I hwurt you!"

"Naw, it's all good. I'm okay, but you scraped your knees!" as soon as she said that, the girl picked up the boy, similar to the way the prince in his story had carried the princess. The way she held him steadily and pronounced her words awed the boy.

 _Is she the prince?_ the small, innocent child thought until the girl lost strength in her arms and started falling forward.

 _I guess she's not,_ the child thought before realizing that the girl had put her arms more tightly around him to shield him from the ground instead of shielding her own face.

 _I guess she is the prince?_

* * *

 **I'm kind of free writing...**

 **Also, I'll be rewriting/making minor changes to the chapters as I publish more to fit whatever mess I am writing. I'll make sure to mark which chapters I have edited!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Little Kuroko crawled out from under the strange girl and saw that her nose was bleeding. Still teary eyed, the little boy took out a handkerchief that his mom had ironed for him to wipe her nose. The little girl seemed to slowly realize what had happened.

"Do you wemember what your nwame is?"

"I'm Rina!" she soon snapped out of her dazed expression.

Then, little Kuroko grabbed Rina's hand and led the way back to the classroom, expecting to sneak back into the room undetected.

When he thought that Rina was a prince, he did not think, that she was everybody's prince.

"Rina and Kuroko-kun?" Where were you guys?" asked the bewildered teacher as all eyes focused on the strange pair.

"I was looking for one of those Rhino beetles that we learned about!" announced Rina proudly.

"Oh hey! Rina and Kuroko awe holding hwands! That's weird!" the loudest little boy in the classroom yelled out.

"Hey! Don't call Rina-kun weird!" a cute girl with a flowery pattern dress shouted back.

This exchange continued as more girls and boys joined in on each side.

But poor Kuroko was confused.

"…But isn't Rina a girl?" thought Kuroko loudly. Too bad he did not go unheard because he was still holding Rina's hand.

Twelve pairs of eyes snapped back to the two, all mouths shut.

"Oh, no…" the teacher said her breath. Her twelve years of experienced anticipated what would happen.

"What…but…Rina-kun's not a girl…waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa," a pig tailed girl started to wail and soon, all of the girls joined in one by one.

And because the little girls were crying, the little boys joined in too.

And because he had made his friends cry, little Kuroko started to sniffle as well.

The poor teacher sought out shelter in a corner and proceeded to rip her hair out.

And our heroine, who was responsible for the whole hubbub, was confused by why anybody would cry on such a nice day.

 **XXX**

Sitting at his desk at his elementary school classroom, Kuroko thought back to when he had first met Rina.

He could understand why the kids had thought she was a boy. Rina had short hair, dressed like a boy, and preferred to play sports than fiddle with cute dolls. Even the teachers sometimes forgot that "he" was a "she."

And ever since that fateful day, his life was never quiet, but Kuroko could not help but smile.

"Heya, why are you smiling?" Rina's face suddenly appeared before him.

The girl still sported short hair similar to Kuroko's and still related more with the boys than with the girls.

But as Rina's eyes shirted to the familiar crescent shape, Kuroko felt the back of his neck warming.

 _There is no way Rina is a boy._

 _She's too pretty._

 **XXX**

Fifth grader Sakurai Ryoko sighed dreamily with a pretty blush on her cheeks. She seemed like the classic girl in love if only she was not staring at her crush from inside the cabinet.

She had fallen in love Takahashi Rina the day she had valiantly saved her from a group of bullies. They had been making fun of her gloomy disposition and how she liked to read manga by herself.

The boys took away her precious mangas and trampled on them.

Her hands squeezed the bottom of her shirt tightly, not caring how she was crumpling them. Her bottom lip trembled dangerously as tears ran down her pudgy cheeks.

 _That's right. Princes don't exist in real life_ , she thought.

Then suddenly, Ryoko felt a hand on top of her head. She then turned around to see "her."

"Will you return those books, please?" Rina had asked, completely overlooking the fact that the mangas were beyond repair.

"W-what?" the boys felt as stunned as Ryoko felt as the school idol appeared. But like all bullies, they resorted to petty insults like "she-male" and "stupid."

But Rina simply smiled and said, "You shouldn't bully your friends, you know," with her posture still relaxed.

"As if we'll listen to you!"

"Then who will you listen to? Wakuri-sensei?"

"Huh? Who'll listen to that witch?"

"Did you know that witches like to eat bad little boys?" said a voice behind Rina.

The boys slowly looked up to see Wakuri-sensei herself. They could swear that they saw horns on her head with fire surrounding her ominously.

All three of the boys gulped and proceeded to sweat profusely.

After the teacher apprehended the mischievous kids, Rina picked up the dirty mangas and shook the dirt off before handing them back to Ryoko.

"Next time something like that happens, make sure to ask help from the teachers, okay?"

"I-I'm so sorry!"

"Hm? But you haven't done anything wrong?"

That was the day Ryoko had met her prince.

Like all the heroines in the shoujo manga, she went through difficulties like founding out that Rina was actually a girl.

 _But her love was still strong!_ she thought, cramped inside the dark cabinet.

She now had only one more obstacle to overcome…and that was Kuroko Tetsuya.

 **XXX**

Kuroko Tetsuya was an anomaly.

The only time people could see him clearly was when he was with Rina. But otherwise, it was very difficult to spot him.

Soon, Rina was predictably dubbed the Prince and Kuroko the Prince's Shadow by people who had too much free time.

"Hey, Tetsuya."

"Yes?"

"I think someone's staring at me…" remarked Rina, as she was no longer able to ignore the intense gaze coming from the… cabinet.

"From inside the classroom or outside?" asked Kuroko as he discreetly pointed to the girls watching her from the open doorway, from outside the windows opposite of the room, and from inside the classroom.

"Oh..."

 **XXX**

Kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, and finally fifth grade came by.

But everyday was very fun and fulfilling to Rina because Tetsuya was always with her.

When she forgot her textbook, he would always share his with her, making sure that the book was more on her side of the desk than his.

When she scraped her knee, he would pat her head, tell her to be careful, and put a bandage with a drawing of her favorite superhero on her owie.

When she was lost, he would always hold her hand and lead her to the right place.

Although she was called the "prince" by everybody, she secretly thought that Tetsuya was the princliest person she knew.

And Rina thought that she would be together with Tetsuya forever.


	4. Chapter 4

***Chapters edited: Ch1**

 ***WARNING: The story gets suddenly real, people! I'll explain why after the chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

"Mom!" shouted Rina, wearing a new outfit made of leaves, dirt, and twigs.

"Look at you! All dirty!" replied Mom with a frown, "Seriously, who did you get your clumsiness from?"

"Did somebody call me?" called Dad from the bathroom.

"Of course it's from your dad!" As her ranting transitioned from her daughter's nature to her husband's nature, Rina's face merged slowly into a pout. "Go take a bath!"

"Okay…"

"And don't drop whatever nature you have on you to the floor!"

"…"

"Answer me!"

"Okay…"

Mom was gruff, and her definition of "motherly love" equaled to "tough love."

Let's say, a child fell down. Usually a mom would run to help her child with a worried expression. But Mom was different. If Rina fell down, Mom would bark at her to quickly stand up and brush the dust off her knees.

Consequently, Rina wondered if she really did love her.

Rina did not do this "wondering" all the time, however. She couldn't because Mom was too cool.

If something broke in the house, Mom repaired it. Well, she would repair whatever mess Dad would make after he had tried to repair it first.

If some furniture needed to be moved in the house, Mom would carry and move them. Well, she would move them after Dad had whined about how his wrists hurt.

Mom frequently looked disappointed with Dad.

Apparently when he proposed to her, Dad promised that he would never let Mom do any housework. Dad also looked tired from Mom's frequent nagging. Rina often wondered if they even loved each other. Thinking about it would make her sad, so she would chatter on endlessly about her daily life instead.

All of her teachers said that all children have a happy family life. So Rina thought that she had a happy family life as well.

The first time Rina questioned if she really did have a loving family was on her first sleepover at Tetsuya's.

As soon as the two children entered Tetsuya's home, obaa-san ran towards her son, giving him a kiss on the head and taking his bag for him. Rina was so surprised when obaa-san did the same for her that she almost forgot to say hello. When oji-san asked how their day was over the dinner table, Rina felt strangely uncomfortable. When obaa-san told them a bedtime story and fixed their blankets, Rina started to cry silently.

Tetsuya was surprised, but he held her hand until she fell asleep.

When Rina returned to her home the next day and saw that she did not get the same warm welcome, she felt empty. She thought it was strange for her to feel that way because this was her norm.

 **XXX**

Time passed and little Rina became a slightly bigger Rina. By this time, she already knew that her parents would never change.

It was the summer of her fifth grade year.

Mom and Dad had gone to the hospital to get their annual checkups because they were well into their 40s with many histories of small illnesses. In the meantime, Rina was still sleeping at her house—she had barely slept last night from playing video games. She was still sleeping when Mom and Dad came back.

Rina had noticed that something was weird when Mom was called back to the hospital for further checkup. However, when she had insisted that she would go to the hospital alone, Rina was shook off her doubts. Her Mom was fine as always.

But she really wasn't.

"The doctor says I have cancer," said Mom's faint voice from over the phone.

"…What?" Dad had replied with some hesitation.

"I'll tell you more about it when I go back home." And that was the end of the call.

There was no big change in Dad's expression and he casually went back to watching the TV.

Rina was done.

Even if she knew that her family was not ideal, she did not think that her family was broken. But her Dad's response had now proved her what she needed to know.

"Dad? How can you be so normal after hearing that?" Rina then broke down into tears. Her Dad just watched her quietly.

Everything afterwards went past quickly, too quickly.

Rina's family had to move back to LA where her mom's side of the family lived. Mom had decided that she would like to get surgery with her family surrounding her.

The day before Mom's surgery, Rina saw her Mom crying—breaking down—for the first time. She bawled her eyes out as she poured out her fears to Dad. He just watched over her without saying anything.

Rina was scared as she witnessed this. She was still just a child after all.

She never went to go see Mom after her surgery. Rina was afraid that she would see someone else—someone else who was not her superwoman. The rest of the family chided her for being a bad daughter, but Rina was scared.

It was then decided that she would attend a school at LA.

It turned out to be that American middle school kids were very different from Japanese elementary school kids.

At this point, Rina's mental state was very fragile, but the whole new language, new culture, new faces, and many more things just added to her burden.

She, however, kept quiet. She was not the one who was suffering the most, after all.

Fortunately, Mom's surgery was a great success and she was onto her path of recovery.

Unfortunately, Rina was not the same person anymore. She got quieter and shyer. Rina also became self-conscious about her appearance for the first time when she was repeatedly told by her American classmates that she was too flat, too skinny, and too…plain. She doubted that they were trying to bully her, but she started to wear more clothing to cover her body anyways.

Rina began to hate herself more and more as time passed by. She hated herself for feeling miserable when her mom was hurting so much.

Even when her family returned to Japan for the summer, she refused to see her friends. Rina missed Tetsuya so, so much, but her time in the States made her doubt.

She doubted that Tetsuya ever thought of her as a friend, she doubted that he even thought of her as a good person.

There was one fact that she could not doubt no matter what.

She missed him.

 **XXX**

"Our friend, Rina will be leaving for LA tomorrow! I'm sure everyone is sad, but let's send her off with a smile, okay?" the teacher announced suddenly to the class.

Immediately, gasps were heard throughout the class and some already started to sniffle.

Kuroko felt like his time stopped. He couldn't hear anything, and even though he opened his mouth, he couldn't say anything either. He knew that he was seeing and hearing, but somehow, he could not understand what was going on.

He actually did understand what was going on, but not _why_.

The class bell rang, notifying everyone that school had officially ended for the day. When everybody immediately crowded around Rina's desk, Kuroko was reminded again that she was beloved to everyone.

He then thought that maybe he was just part of "everyone" to her.

Rina answered questions, consoled, and wiped tears until her dad came to pick her up. Kuroko realized that it was the first time he had seen Rina's family. That realization led to another realization—she hardly ever talked to him about her family. He didn't know much about her.

For the first time, Kuroko Tetsuya felt very, very lonely.

He still ran towards her, though. Because well, he was Kuroko and he always did his best.

Rina and Tetsuya had some privacy while her dad spoke to the principle about certain things.

"…You're leaving?"

"…"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"…I'm sorry," a sniffle. "I-I'm really sorry," a sob.

This was the second time he ever saw Rina cry, but he still didn't know what to do. So, Kuroko simply held her hand.

"Let's make a promise," said Rina between her sobs.

"A promise?"

"I'll come back to you. I don't know when it'll be, but I promise that I'll be by your side," said Rina. Although her eyes were red and puffy, she faced Kuroko with an unwavering gaze.

And for some reason, that was enough for Tetsuya because he knew Rina. He knew that she would keep her promise not matter what.

"Okay, I'll hold you to that."

And that was their first end.

* * *

 **Some of you, well... ALL of you are probably confused at why the story suddenly became sad. I want to keep working on this story, that's why I need variety! This story will be funny for the most part, but it'll also be very, very real at times.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The sky in LA was unusually dark and cloudy.

And there was another person who was unusually gloomy that day as well.

"Stacy, are you okay?" asked Amber worriedly.

Her best friend Stacy was one of the most popular girls at school. Tall, long blonde hair, and olive skin, Stacy was the typical popular "cheerleader girl." Unsurprisingly, she was always surrounded by both boys and girls, but Stacy never complained—she loved attention.

The girl who always oozed confidence wherever she went was definitely acting strange—she had fewer coats of mascara on her eyelashes than usual, her straight blonde hair was put up into a messy bun, and she had heavy dark circles under her eyes.

Amber looked at Stacy who was laying her head down on her desk. She was giving such a strong aura of gloom that nobody could approach her.

"Amber!" Stacy suddenly shot up from her desk, looking at the brunette with frantic eyes.

"What?!"

"What do you call it when you like, see somebody and you like start feeling super giggly, but at the same time it like, makes you feel really sa—"

"Stacy…are you in love?"

"No way! I'm straight!"

"What?"

"What?"

The two friends stared at each other in shocked silence.

"You're…talking about that Japanese girl, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Stacy threw her hands up into the air and started to wail.

"But…why?"

"Just…just look at her!"

The two simultaneously turned to look at Rina, who was looking outside the window.

She was a strange girl. She was quiet and preferred to be alone, but she was never left out of the loop. Basically, she was not hated by anybody, but she was not loved by anybody either.

It was not that nobody wanted to be good friends with her. Rina, however, would draw a line between herself and anybody who wanted to cross it with a smile. Everyone else just dismissed this by saying it was a "Japanese thing."

Rina had a faraway expression on her face as she looked outside the window. Her posture and expression was relaxed and calm, but Stacy had a feeling that Rina was feeling anything but that.

Stacy was not sure what was going on, but she wanted to a source of comfort to her.

 _Yeah right, when I can't even talk to her_ , she thought as she wailed into Amber's shirt.

In the meantime, Rina was shocked out of her thoughts from the sudden wail she heard beside her. So our good ol' Rina walked towards Stacy and handed her a handkerchief.

"Are you alright?"

"What?! Oh umm… uhh," stuttered and blubbered poor Stacy.

"You don't need to tell me, but I think a smile suits you better," grinned Rina before leaving the classroom.

Stacy, well, melted into a blushing blob.

 **XXX**

After Rina had left, the school's atmosphere was terribly dreary. It seemed like nobody would be able to recover from losing her.

But time healed.

Rina's name was engraved deeply onto everyone's hearts, but time gently eroded those letters away.

But there was one exception—little Kuroko who was now a slightly bigger Kuroko.

He knew that Rina liked a smiling face better than a crying one, so he tried to be strong, really. His heart, however, could not decide on one, so he just stuck to a neutral expression. But really, it just looked like he was pouting.

Kuroko sat down on the swing, idly kicking the sand and making weird domes around the area. Suddenly, something hit his foot.

He looked down to see a basketball. Taking the ball into his hands, Kuroko looked around to find its owner. He didn't see anybody, so he stood up and bounced the ball experimentally a few times. On his third try, the ball landed on his foot and flew to the other side of the playground.

Kuroko ran towards the ball, feeling oddly excited. He liked how the basketball's rough leather felt under his small hands and the sound the ball made when it met the floor.

"Hey! Thanks for getting that for me!" a cheerful voice exclaimed.

"…You're welcome," answered Kuroko, startled.

"I'm Ogiwara Shigehiro, what's your name?"

"I'm Kuroko Tetsuya."

"Hey, why don't you play with me?" Kuroko slowly replied with a small nod.

And that's how Kuroko met basketball.

 **XXX**

Rina and Mom always went back to Japan for the summer because Mom wanted to visit her friends and have her annual checkup in a language she understood.

Thus, Rina was sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, swinging her legs and kicking at the tiled floor. She wanted to be anywhere but there. Rina hated hospitals—she hated how helpless they made her feel.

As the clock passed the time Mom had promised to be finished by, Rina began to feel more and more anxious. It didn't help how the boy beside her was screaming his lungs out.

She wondered why he was at the hospital. Maybe a family member was sick, or maybe he was sick himself.

Either way, Rina wanted the boy to stop crying, so she turned around to face him, getting ready to give him a dazzling smile until—

"Hey, do you like basketball?"

"Bwu?" the startled boy let out a wet sound.

Maybe "surprised" was a bit of an understatement. A really, really tall guy with a sturdy build had squatted down in front of the boy. He seemed to be triple? the size of the little boy. If it was not for the big goofy smile on the guy's face, Rina would have taken the little boy and bolted.

"This is a mini basketball," said the guy, taking out a small bright orange basketball from his bag.

"…I know," the boy said, too confused by the situation to keep crying.

"I'll show you a little trick," said the guy as he proceeded to spin the mini ball on his index finger.

Both Rina and the boy were a little impressed.

"Woah…" said the boy, fidgeting on the end of his seat.

"I'm not done you know," said the guy with a grin as he stretched his arm out and put the ball at the tip of his fingers. He then stretched out his other arm. Flicking his wrist to get the ball moving, the guy slid the ball smoothly to the other end of his arm.

Okay, now both Rina and the little boy were very impressed.

The little boy bounced on his seat, his eyes twinkling as he shouted, "More! More!" to the awesome person.

At some point of the show, Rina had stopped trying to look sideways and stared unabashedly at the guy.

The guy looked at the two and their twinking eyes. He bellowed out into laughter and pat them on their heads.

His hand was big and heavy on her head, but there was no mistake in how comforting it was at the same time. When Rina met the eyes of the super cool person who was clearly amused, she blushed.

She had long forgotten her anxiety. From then on, Rina would realize that Kiyoshi Teppei would have that kind of effect on her.

* * *

 **Heyo I'm back!**

 **READ FOR CLARIFICATION**

As a gracious reader pointed out, I have a lot of flashbacks. The problem is, I hate adding the word flashback because it breaks the mood and flow of the story. If I were a better writer, there will be no confusion but I'm not so...haha.. Here's the clarification!

In chapter 1, we are in the "present," or main storyline.

In chapter 2, most of the story is in the present, excluding the very last portion (when Kuroko and Rina first meet in kindergarten)

In chapter 3, it's in chronological order. Both Kuroko and Rina go from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Chapter 4 is also in chronological order.

In chapter 5, the part before the first break (I'll call the XXX's breaks from now on) is during Rina's middle school years in America. The part before the second break immediately takes place after Rina leaves Japan after her fifth grade. The next one is during Rina's middle school years again.

I'm really sorry for the confusion, but I'll explain along the way so leave me any questions!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Hey, why do you like Rina so much," asked Amber, as she absentmindedly chewed on the straw of her iced black coffee with no sugar or syrup from Starbucks. She didn't even bother to make her question sound like a question.

"W-what?" Stacy beautifully spat out her white chocolate mocha with extra whipped cream (which she got for free by winking at the blushing barista) in surprise.

"I mean, I get it. She treats you better than any man has and she's cute, but you've only ever dated your kind before."

"…What do you mean 'my kind,'" Stacy eyed her brunette best friend warily.

"You know. Blonde, blue eyes, abs. Basically very straight guys who have more than 1000 followers in Instagram," Amber shot imaginary red arrows through Stacy without blinking once.

It was hard to tell if the blonde's face was red from embarrassment or indignation. Probably both.

As usual, Amber was right—her fixation towards the Japanese girl was very, very unusual. In fact, she used to be one of those white people who asked if East Asians could see well through their smaller, narrower eyes, albeit without any ill intentions.

It was a beautiful sunny day. She was walking her tiny Yorkshire terrier pup that loved to stick out its tongue to the side of its small snout in the nearby park.

She briefly let go of the pup's leash to lie down on the grass for a quick tan when the pup bolted towards wherever the delicious smell of food was coming from.

When Stacy realized what had happened, it was as if she had been pushed into ice cold water. She searched for her dog frantically, running through her mind the thousands of precious memories she had with her terrier and the thousands of bad things that could happen to it.

Night had fallen fast when she finally found her puppy in the hands of the most pompous and spoiled looking child she had ever seen.

Her face was red and marked with tears, her mascara was long gone, her ponytail had various nature stuck in it, but most of all she had been so, so worried. She choked back a sob and ran towards her terrier with open arms, but when she was so close, the brat quickly turned to the side.

She fell face forward onto the dusty pavement, and when she got up, she was about to give the brat a "small" piece of her mind. The child, realizing that the rightful owner had appeared, tightly clutched onto the struggling dog in his arms and was about to throw an ear-piercing tantrum.

That's when she appeared.

"Hi there," Rina seemingly appeared out of thin air before the two, startling them out of their frustration for a brief moment.

She calmly walked over to Stacy and asked, "Is that dog yours?"

"YEA-" Stacy started to yell when she was once again stopped by a hand on her shoulder and a reassuring smile. She was astounded by how familiar this stranger was acting, but for some reason, she felt like she could trust her.

"Heya kiddo, can you return the puppy to the lady? She really misses her dog," for some reason, the word "lady" made Stacy blush.

"NO! IT'S MY DOG NOW!" the child predictably started to scream.

"I know that the puppy was keeping you company when you were lonely, but I'm sure your mommy misses you too," Rina smiled unfazed as she gently pat the boy's head.

As the lost child burst into tears, she gently pried the dog out of the boy's arms and gathered him into her arms. The dog happily ran over to its owner, blissfully unaware of how desperately its owner searched for him.

The boy had fallen asleep in her arms by the time the frantic mother came running to get him.

"Thank you so much for helping me out earlier," said Stacy, tired and grateful.

"I'm glad it worked out. I'm really sorry for butting in, though,"

"No, no, I didn't even realize that a child was alone outside during the night…"

"Can you come with me for a second?" said Rina as she led Stacy and her dog to the bench outside the convenience store.

Tired from searching and crying, Stacy waited quietly on the bench when Rina came towards her a minute later holding a bag. The said girl knelt down in front of her and gently started to clean the scratches on Stacy's legs.

The moment was magical for Stacy—it seemed as if the world slowed down and it was just the two of them.

She watched the stranger treat her so delicately and carefully. Nobody, nobody had treated her so preciously before.

Noticing the stare, Rina looked up and smiled—her crescent shaped dark eyes looked almost mysterious in the dim light of the night and her grin was lopsided and playful.

By the time Rina blinked once, Stacy had already fallen madly in love with her.

"Wow," said Amber, awed and almost subdued, as she took in the long, long flashback.

Because Amber is Amber, she then finished with a - "That's so corny though," before Stacy slowly raised her fist.

 **XXX**

 _We will be the best in Japan._

Tetsuya always surprised her. For someone who doesn't stand out much as a person, he sure liked to make flashy and bold statements.

As she leaned on the windowsill to look at the big white words on the field, Rina's smiled wobbled. She shivered slightly, barely containing her excitement to see him and worries about his reactions…or lack thereof.

She was a terribly selfish person.

Although her self-confidence did take a hit when she was thrown into a completely new environment during her middle school, Rina always ended up finding friends who supported her. She ended up forming an unexpected bond with the popular girls in her school in America, Stacy and Amber.

 _Especially Stacy_ , thought Rina, _she was so cute…_ as she remembered the blonde crying into her chest before she left LA.

Fully relying on Tetsuya's kindness, Rina delayed her promise that she would come back to him. It was between her second and third year in middle school when she finally worked up her courage to go see him.

The same quiet neighborhood with the occasional barking of the old shiba inu down the corner

The same gray pavement with the same crack that now had a strong-willed dandelion proudly basking in the warm sun

The same clean steps up to his white front door

She was skipping at this point. Everything was the same after all! Tetsuya would forgive her easily and they would go back to the times when they were inseparable. The times his small warm hands would help her up after she failed to climb the same tree four times and the times his smiles would make her feel like a bright red balloon floating up, up, and up…

When his mom opened the door to reveal a sad and tired expression rather than her characteristic cheerful smile, Rina immediately realized that she was too late.

 **XXX**

Tetsuya had found his passion, did his very best to achieve it, and met those who shared his ambitions. Even when he realized that his talents could not carry him to the same level that his friends were on, Tetsuya was happy because he loved playing basketball with them.

And just when he thought he could enjoy the same court as them, he was left behind again.

Just like how she had left him.

Tears streaming down her face, Rina left the house in a hurry but not after giving Tetsuya's mom a heartfelt goodbye.

At that moment, she only felt regret and guilt.

When she found her resolve, it was through the riddles of a weird but wise brown haired teenage boy.

 **XXX**

Amber missed Rina, sure, but Stacy was being too much.

Said girl was a mess—her red painted nails were chipped, her dark circles looked almost purple, and there was a comb still stuck in her long blonde hair.

"Stacy, does Rina still think that you were crying into her chest because you hated seeing her go?"

"…Wha-what? What's wrong about it?"

"Give me your red heels or I'll tell Rina that you were trying to cut her hair for some ritual or something."

"…Fine," Stacy begrudgingly agreed, clutching a small red omamori to her heart.


End file.
